Telecoms Are Hit by Cellphone Cost Worries

Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile Lose Market Value

What difference does a month make? In telecom, the answer is about $45 billion.

That’s how much market value Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. have lost collectively since mid-November amid a fast-moving reassessment of the industry’s value by investors. The lost value is greater than the current market capitalization of Sprint and T-Mobile combined, and it reflects concern that cellphone service will be costlier to deliver and less lucrative to sell.